The pastor goes to visit a new parishioner. The man has cancer of the liver. He openly expresses his anger at God for letting this happen to him. “Why me?” he wants to know. He never mentions that before the pastor met him he had been a heavy drinker for over 30 years. It never dawned on him that his actions could be the obvious answer to the question of his cancer.

Over the past couple of months, I’ve written some “feel good” columns about worthy causes in our community.

It’s about time to step back into politics and take up something a bit more controversial, like cat leash ordinances – wait, not even petty tyrants would be foolish enough to try to leash cats. So moving on…

I’ve been a bit jealous watching our neighboring school districts get started this week — I’m ready and excited to welcome everyone back to school here in Oldham County. We’ve had a very active summer with major renovations finishing at Oldham County Middle School and other building projects at South Oldham Middle and the Arvin Center, where we created new space for our OCS Engineering Academy. We also completed numerous facility projects across the district’s 22 schools and facilities.

Last week, my dad gave me all the pictures from my childhood. Among them are seven snapshots of the Pittsboro Kindergarten graduation of 1976. I can still remember the coolness, and slightly musty smell, of the church basement where the ceremony was held. I also recall the battle I had with my mom beforehand while she was trying to fix my hair.

If God is good why is there so much evil? This is the question of theodicy that can never be fully answered. This is one of the most difficult questions in all of theology. God is eternal, infinite, omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent and the creator of the universe. So why is there so much pain, death, struggle and evil in the world? Over the next four weeks I want to look at different facets of the problem of evil: 1) demonic evil, 2) human evil, 3) evil from the perspective of eternity and 4) trusting in the goodness of God.

If God is good why is there so much evil? This is the question of theodicy that can never be fully answered. This is one of the most difficult questions in all of theology. God is eternal, infinite, omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent and the creator of the universe. So why is there so much pain, death, struggle and evil in the world? Over the next four weeks I want to look at different facets of the problem of evil: 1) demonic evil, 2) human evil, 3) evil from the perspective of eternity and 4) trusting in the goodness of God.